Video: Resolution is in the brushstrokes

If you've ever reproduced a photograph with an inkjet printer, you've most likely learned the lesson that, as output size increases, greater image resolution is required. Most of us learned this lesson the hard way, by printing a low resolution image at a large size. The result is a blurry rendition of the image that looked sharp and crisp on-screen. The prevailing rule of thumb is that a photograph destined for printing must contain sufficient resolution for output at a specific size. These are wise words when printing a photograph, but you'll be surprised to learn that you can cheat this supposed commandment when interpreting a photo into a painting.

Learn to think like a painter and render images that look like they were created with oils or acrylics, using the latest digital artist's tools. Author and artist John Derry introduces the process of interpreting a photograph into a painted work of art. He begins by explaining his system of visual vocabularies, which describe how to replace the visual characteristics of a photograph with that of expressive painting, and also shares the custom brush sets and actions he uses to achieve these results in Adobe Photoshop. The course also covers working with filters, layers, effects, and more to add further detail and texture.

Resolution is in the brushstrokes

If you've ever reproduced a photograph with an inkjet printer, you've mostlikely learned the lesson that, as output size increases, greater imageresolution is required.Most of us learned this lesson the hard way, by printing a low resolutionimage at a large size.The result is a blurry rendition of the image that looked sharp and crisp on-screen.The prevailing rule of thumb is that a photograph destined for printing mustcontain sufficient resolution for output at a specific size.These are wise words when printing a photograph, but you'll be surprised tolearn that you can cheat this supposed commandment when interpreting aphoto into a painting.

So what I want to do here is enlarge this image, so I can print a very large sizeof it out when I print it on a inkjet printer.And let's take a look at the current image size.So, 240 is a good resolution for inkjet printing, and right now if I printedthis image out it would be roughly sixteen by ten inches, which is okay, butI want a larger image.In fact, I want this to be twice as large.So I'm going to go ahead and break this commandment, and I'm going to take thisand make this 200%.So it's going to be essentially twice as large as it was.

So let's go ahead and apply that, and let's go up to 100%, and sureenough, there it is. Look at it.It's kind of soft and fuzzy.This would not make a good print.But here is the beauty of working with painting.For a photographic output, this is insufficient, and we can see it right in the image itself.It's too soft.However, we are going to be replacing this image with brush strokes.Now, they're still made up of pixels, but when we start applying brushstrokes at this newer resolution, the brush strokes are now going to be thecarrier of the resolution.

And being applied at this resolution, it's going to work out just fine, and let meshow you what I mean. Here's a sample.This image has been resized to 200%, and if we look over here, you can see,here's the painted version of that image.Because all of this photographic softened detail has literally been replaced,and this color's been used in the brush strokes, this looks fine.This is absolutely perfect, sharp, crisp resolution for an image twice theresolution that we've been working at.So the lesson to be learned here is that, while you do need to have a specificstarting resolution with a photograph when you're going to print it out to aspecific size, you can actually take advantage of the fact that you are going tobe replacing photographic detail with brush strokes in your final image.

And by enlarging the image prior to the application of brush strokes, you cantake this image, which, yes I totally agree, not sufficient resolution for largeoutput as I want to do, but after I've applied the brush strokes to it once I'veenlarged it, it's perfect.So this is at trick you can use.You don't necessarily have to have a high resolution image to start withwhen you're painting.Certainly the smaller the image it is and the larger you enlarge it, the moresofter and blurry this is going to become, but remember that you are justusing this as a palette of color that is going to be interpreted through the brush strokes.

So that soft, blurry image, when that color's picked up and funneled throughthe brush stroke, it's going to become a nice, sharp, finished image at the higher resolution.So, keep in mind that this is a nice little trick you can use to get aroundthis supposed resolution limit that you're faced with when you're normallyprinting with a photograph.

Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about Digital Painting: Architecture .

Here are the FAQs that matched your search "" :

Expand all | Collapse all

please wait ...

Q: I'm unable to install the custom Wacom settings included with the exercise files. Any advice on how to load them?

A: After the course was recorded, we discovered that the Wacom preference files are not cross-platform and are specific to the machine that created them, which limits their use. However, in the exercise files you'll find a PDF labeled Intuos4 Mapping_PS_CS5.pdf; using this document, you can manually enter the settings in the Wacom control panel. Also, please note that the settings are not necessary to complete the course.

Sorry, there are no matches for your search "" —to search again, type in another word or phrase and click search.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

Already a member ?

Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
Learn more

Upgrade to our Annual Premium Membership today and get even more value from your lynda.com subscription:

“In a way, I feel like you are rooting for me. Like you are really invested in my experience, and want me to get as much out of these courses as possible this is the best place to start on your journey to learning new material.”— Nadine H.

Thanks for signing up.

We’ll send you a confirmation email shortly.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.

Keep up with news, tips, and latest courses with emails from lynda.com.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.